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The Truth About Online Gambling and Credit Cards

The credit card companies lobbied for laws governing online gambling with credit cards, although one would think that people would be the ones hesitant to their credit or debit cards online.

The main reason behind the shift in laws is that too many people have made it a habit to create debt that they cannot repay. Lawsuits have pardoned the debt, paid lawyer fees in full and left credit histories untouched. This is good for the people in debt, but bad for the credit card companies who end up losing a lot of money.

Many people struggle with gambling addiction and online gambling with charge cards make it easier to spend large amounts of money than when gambling at a land-based casino. Many land-based casinos even advise players to leave their cards at home, so that they are not tempted to spend more than they can afford. Visiting online casinos makes this discipline even harder because generally you access these games from home. It is best that you then have someone you trust take responsibility of your credit and debit card while you play so that you do not end up making rash decisions regarding your money.

What Does the Law Say?

Some countries and states have designated areas where gambling is legal and those where it is not. This means that you could easily be breaking the law when pursuing online gambling with credit and debit cards. Online gambling is already illegal in the United States of America and this has led to interesting convictions in courts whereby credit card companies are being persecuted for allowing the activity to take place instead of the player for gambling online.

No More PayPal

You can no longer use PayPal as a direct payment option for online gambling and the majority of accredited online gambling sites have removed any mention of PayPal. This means that players do not have the option of transferring money from their MasterCard or Visa to PayPal accounts in order to gamble online.

Credit institutions each have their own policies regarding online gambling with credit cards and it is best that you familiarize yourself with those that apply to you and your credit card company. American Express, for instance, offers credit services managed independently from other banking institutions, while MasterCard and Visa is affiliated with many different banks around the world.

If you still want to use your credit card for online gambling, some casinos have developed a method that bypasses PayPal and the credit card bans against online casinos. Simply put, you use your credit or debit card to buy a “gift card”. You then use the gift card in the online casino, and MasterCard, Visa or other card company sees a purchase for a gift card.